Chris Greening

In our latest collection of free education resources, we explore bioconversion with Professor Esteban Marcellin, Professor @greening.bsky.social and Dr Leonie Van 't Hag from the RECARB hub. They are using bioconversion to convert greenhouse gases into proteins.
futurumcareers.com/tackling-cli...

A widespread hydrogenase supports fermentative growth of gut bacteria in healthy people - Nature Microbiology A previously uncharacterized microbial enzyme is responsible for the production of molecular hydrogen in the gut, which drives the growth of other bacteria and has implications for human health.

Why can our farts ignite? Time to find out (and quite a bit more) in our new paper in Nature Microbiology led by the amazing Dr Cait Welsh. Integrating atomic-to-ecosystem level insights. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cool study on aerotolerant methanogens! Options they might protect themselves from O2 include biofilm formation in response to O2 exposure and antioxidants (F420-H2-oxidases, rubredoxins, thioredoxins, and peroxiredoxins). This opens up a vareity of new possible habitats for methanogens.

Caliditerrarchaeota, a new sister to Nanohaloarchaeota, provides insights into the evolution of DPANN halophily The Nanohaloarchaeota are a clade of halophilic symbionts with small cells and genomes. Originally placed within the Euryarchaeota, they are now widely thought to belong to the DPANN archaea. However,...

New preprint up now!

Interested in the evolution of halophily within DPANN archaea we decided to investigate the sister phylum to the Nanohaloarchaeota, GTDB phylum EX4484-52, for which we propose the name Caliditerrarchaeota
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Masterpiece paper from Ning, Perran, Amelia and co! Great mix of field-based geochemistry, laboratory manipulations, methanogen cultivation, and isolate / environmental genomics. An unexpected feedback between eutrophication and climate change that could shake up how we think about methane budgets.

Nanoengineered bioanode with oxygen-insensitive hydrogenase for sustainable energy harvesting from atmospheric hydrogen and waste gases Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) utilizing hydrogenases to oxidize hydrogen offer a sustainable approach to energy conservation. However, the oxygen se…

3/3 Very grateful to collaborate with chemical engineers Dr Kaiqiang He and Distinguished Professor Huanting Wang to make this dream a reality. Check out the paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

2/3 Huc has several exceptional properties for a hydrogen catalyst. It has a high affinity for hydrogen, is insensitive to oxygen and carbon monoxide poisoning, and is also thermally stable. This enables it to use feedstocks like air and waste gases no chemical fuel cell can.

Nanoengineered bioanode with oxygen-insensitive hydrogenase for sustainable energy harvesting from atmospheric hydrogen and waste gases Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) utilizing hydrogenases to oxidize hydrogen offer a sustainable approach to energy conservation. However, the oxygen se…

1/3 Electricity from air! In the top journal Nano Energy today, we report the first fuel cell that makes power from air alone. We achieved this by using the enzyme Huc to oxidize ambient hydrogen. This results in a continuous low-level power from air and higher outputs with industrial waste gases.

Investigating the Atmospheric Microbial Ecosystem Through Theory, Bioenergetics, and Numerical Modeling: A Breath of Fresh Air for Aeromicrobiology Aerobiology research is hindered by several technical challenges facing experimental studies, sampling, and monitoring strategies Theoretical approaches and numerical modeling tools provide power...

Does the atmosphere harbour a resident, growing microbial ecosystem? ⛅

Here in @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social we outline how theoretical tools 📝 & modelling 💻 can bring us closer to the answer

Congrats lead author @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social

🧵 thread 👇

tinyurl.com/7pdfm7uw

ATP synthesis driven by atmospheric hydrogen concentrations | PNAS All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The un...

Our article showing energy production from air alone is in PNAS today. This paper provides an ultimate biochemical proof that microbes can survive simply by 'making' energy from air (making two ATP per molecule atmospheric H2 consumed) and has biotech applications. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Logo for the Sandpiper website

Out in @natbiotech.nature.com: Metagenome taxonomy profilers usually ignore unknown species. SingleM is an accurate profiler which doesn't, even detecting phyla with no MAGs. Profiles of 700,000 metagenomes at sandpiper.qut.edu.au. A 🧵

Thank you!!!

Thanks so much!!!

Extraordinary keynote lecture by Prof. Chris Greening @greening.bsky.social about Microbial oxidation of atmospheric trace gases: from enzymes to ecosystems.
#FEMS2025 @femsmicro.org

Getting inspired @femsmicro.org ! Thanks @greening.bsky.social for the very interesting talk !

Haha! Saw you briefly yesterday but so sorry I missed your presentation!

Day 3 at #fems2025 started with an exciting and inspiring keynote by Chris @greening.bsky.social on microbes living out of thin air
@femsmicro.org

That's only half the issue - check out these great Reviews, too!
📝 Oxygen-adapted hydrogenases - @greening.bsky.social et al
📝 RNA processing in innate immunity - Kristen Lynch et al
📝 connexins and pannexins beyond the cell surface - Henrique Girao et al

A must read. Our lab learned the hard way just how problematic contamination can be! We hope this article will be a wake-up call for many. Many thanks to chief editor Dr Emily White (@emily-white.bsky.social) and co-lead Prof Noah Fierer (@noahfierer.bsky.social) for driving this article.

Our new consensus statement on reducing and reporting contamination in microbiome studies is the cover image of this month's Nature Microbiology: www.nature.com/articles/s41... In the cover photo, you can see our postdoc Sophie Holland in fully PPE sampling the atmosphere of terrestrial Antarctica.

A screenshot of the Nature Microbiology website showing the journal cover - me in a cleansuit, gloves, and dark snow goggles attaching a filter to an air sampling unit. Text reads: Guidelines for low-biomass microbiomes. Pictured here, Sophie Holland attaches a filter to an air sampler to study the atmospheric microbiome of Somoveken Glacier in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The pristine environment and incredibly low atmospheric biomass require multiple precautions to avoid sample contamination, including wearing full personal protective equipment over warm weather gear. In this issue, Fierer, Greening and colleagues working on host-associated and environmental microbiomes present guidelines and best practices for studying low-biomass microbiomes in a Consensus Statement. See Fierer et al. Image: Braydon Moloney. Cover design: Laoise Mac Gabhann"

Guess who's the coverboi for @natmicrobiol.nature.com this month? 💁 A huge shout-out to Dr Rachael Lappan for entrusting me to carry out the sampling for this incredibly cool atmosphere microbiome project on her behalf, & to Braydon Moloney for capturing this moment in Antarctica last summer. [1/2]

Our paper demonstrating that within-species warfare interactions are ecologically important on human skin is now published in Nature Micro! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies Nature Microbiology - In this Consensus Statement, the authors outline strategies for processing, analysing and interpreting low-biomass microbiome samples, and provide recommendations to minimize...

Hope this is useful - consensus statement "Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies" rdcu.be/er3Io

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies - Nature Microbiology In this Consensus Statement, the authors outline strategies for processing, analysing and interpreting low-biomass microbiome samples, and provide recommendations to minimize contaminants.

An editorial in @natmicrobiol.nature.com highlighted issues with reports dealing with low-biomass microbiome.

A new consensus statement provides guidelines to prevent and report contamination in low-biomass studies.

A step towards ensuring rigour!

#MIcrobiomeSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies - Nature Microbiology In this Consensus Statement, the authors outline strategies for processing, analysing and interpreting low-biomass microbiome samples, and provide recommendations to minimize contaminants.

A new Consensus Statement led by @greening.bsky.social and @noahfierer.bsky.social in @natmicrobiol.nature.com

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies

❗A must-read for anyone working in this field

#microsky 🧪🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

After some more awesome science from amongst others @greening.bsky.social, Simon Newstead & @martinsteinegger.bsky.social and unfortunately a long drive back home, we made it back to Umeå! Thank you #Sweprot and all participants for the great company and hopefully see you next year!

Online now - the Review "Diverse lineages and adaptations of oxygen-adapted #hydrogenases" from @greening.bsky.social, @rhyswg.bsky.social‬, and colleagues.

#metalloenzyme #evolution #O2Tolerant #O2Sensitive #GasChannels

Read it here 👉 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lA2s3S6Gf...

Thanks so much Christoph. That's super kind. We really did stumble on this serendipitously, building on great work from Conrad, King, Constant, etc before. I totally agree. Such a simple and intuitive yet still unexpected mechanism that really makes us rethink the minimal needs for life.

I'm absolutely taken by your work – and your team's work – on how microbes get by living from "thin air". it's only a "paradigm shift' for microbiologists brought up with the idea that bugs live by "feast or famine", what they do not only in the lab. but the famine part is way more interesting...

Hydrogenase-driven ATP synthesis from air All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The universally conserved F1Fo-ATP synthase regenerates ATP...

Energy from air? No problem! In our new preprint, we reconstitute the machinery that allows microbes to endure starvation. By using the trace amounts of hydrogen in air alone, they produce plenty of chemical energy (2 ATP) to get by. The only byproduct? Water. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...